“Encanto” is an original Disney animated film with songs written by Lin- Manuel Miranda. It has eanred praise by critics and audiences alike.
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about the new animated film.
- Encanto is a 2021 American computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film
- It is produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios
- It is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
- It marks the 60th film produced by the studio
- The film was directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard
- And co-directed by writer Charise Castro Smith
- It was produced by Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer
- With original songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda
- The film stars the voices of Stephanie Beatriz, María Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Diane Guerrero, Jessica Darrow, Angie Cepeda, and Wilmer Valderrama
- It premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on November 3, 2021
- It was theatrically released in the United States on November 24
- The film received positive reviews from critics
- Critics praised its voice acting, songs, representation of Colombia and the emotional depth
- It has grossed $24.3 million worldwide
- In November 2016, Lin-Manuel Miranda revealed that John Lasseter, the then-chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, had presented an idea for an animated project to himself and Byron Howard, while promoting his previous collaboration with the studio, 2016’s Moana
- Miranda said work on the project had begun but was at an early stage
- On January 29, 2020, it was reported the studios were developing an animated film centered on a Latino family
- Howard and Jared Bush were announced as the film’s directors
- With Bush being involved with the film’s screenplay
- While Clark Spencer and Yvett Merino were named as the film’s producers
- On June 18, 2020, the tentative title was revealed to be Encanto
- The project was also confirmed to be the film Miranda was involved in, and it was reported to be about a girl in a magical family
- While initial reports had said the film would be set in Brazil, Miranda stated on June 22 that it would actually be set in Colombia
- The same day, it was also reported that Charise Castro Smith would be a co-director in addition to co-writing the screenplay
- On December 10, 2020, the project was officially confirmed at a Disney Investor Day meeting
- There a clip was shown
- The release in fall of 2021 was also announced
- By June 2020, Miranda had begun writing the film’s music, which will have eight original songs in both Spanish and English
- On September 8, 2021, Germaine Franco, co-composer of the songs from Coco, began to score the film
- The soundtrack for the film was released on streaming on November 19, 2021
- All songs are written by Lin-Manuel Miranda with scores composed by Germaine Franco
- In the United States and Canada, Encanto was released alongside House of Gucci and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
- The film was originally projected to gross $35 to 40 million from 3,980 theaters in its five-day opening weekend.
- The film opened nationwide on Wednesday, November 24, 2021, and made $7.5 million on its first day
- Because of Thanksgiving, a federal holiday, 80% of K–12 schools in the U.S. were closed on Wednesday and 100% were closed on Thursday and Friday
- Its opening day performance was worse than Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur ($9.76 million), which flopped at the box office in 2015
- Encanto made $5.8 million on its second day and $11 million on its third
- Audiences divided into the four general quadrants were 33% female over the age of 25, 29% female under 25, 22% male over 25, and 15% male under 25
- Moviegoers were also 59% Latino or Hispanic, 19% Caucasian, 10% Black, 8% Asian, and 5% other
- The main reason given for seeing the film was because it was an animated title from Disney
- Encanto is now projected to gross between $39 to 42 million by the end of its five-day opening weekend
- On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 92% rating
- Based on 114 reviews
- With an average rating of 7.7/10
- The website’s critical consensus reads, “Encanto’s setting and cultural perspective are new for Disney, but the end result is the same – enchanting, beautifully animated fun for the whole family”
- Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100
- Based on 33 critics
- Indicating “generally favorable reviews”
- Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A” on an A+ to F scale
- While those at PostTrak gave it an 88% positive score, with 70% saying they would definitely recommend it
